


Play

by twowritehands



Category: Space Force (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:27:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24646414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twowritehands/pseuds/twowritehands
Summary: Mark and Adrian meet in the gym for some one on one basketball.
Relationships: Dr. Adrian Mallory/General Mark Naird
Comments: 3
Kudos: 51





	Play

**Author's Note:**

> Real talk:
> 
> "Thank God I have you."
> 
> "That's a really nice thing to say."
> 
> How sweet can two men be? Platonic or not that is real love right there.

Adrian dribbled the basketball and took a shot just as Mark entered the gym. The ball sailed in a perfect arch and bounced off the backboard, hit the rim and tipped into the net. But Adrian saw none of that. He was staring at Mark's outfit. 

It was the first time he had ever seen the man in shorts and no sleeves. He had a tattoo on each arm and one on his left calf. 

"Nice shot," Mark said with no attempt to hide his surprise. He caught the ball and took a shot that missed. "Dammit. Give me a minute to warm up. I haven't actually done this in quite a while."

"Fine," Adrian relented with a great show of forbearance. He watched Mark take a few more practice shots, and casually paced around him to get a better look at all the ink. 

All three visible tattoos were old, simple black ink. His left bicep had the air force insignia on it. His right bicep said MAGGIE and his right calf said ERIN with a baby footprint and a date.

"I'm considering a cover up," Mark said out of no where. Adrian had been caught staring.

"Hm?"

Mark finally got one in the net. Adrian clapped for him.

"Tattoo removal is a nightmare, so I'm thinking about covering it with a new one. It just seems sacrilege for the commanding spaceman to have airmen pride. I try not to flash it around."

"People understand that you came up through the air force."

Mark dribbled and took another shot that was a beautiful nothing-but-net-sweep. "That's what Maggie said."

"She's right. You spent your entire life in it. To scribble that out would be rewriting history." Adrian caught the ball and began dribbling. Mark surged up close, a solid wall blocking access to the hoop. Adrian went slightly breathless, and confused. "Whoa, what? Are we actually playing?"

"Well yeah. One on one. Cmon, Adrian, take a shot. Your best shot."

Bashful to have the crisp general invading his space so forcefully, he could barely concentrate on dribbling. "Get out of my grill and I can."

"Nope. This is defense."

"I don't want to play like that. I just like taking shots."

Mark grinned affectionately. "That's the way Erin always wanted to play."

He caught the ball. "Are you calling me a girl?"

Mark did not let up the defense even a little. His voice was close to Adrian ear. "Take a shot. Lemme see how you do under pressure."

Adrian elbowed him, turned and put the ball in the hoop. Probably the coolest thing he had ever done. 

Mark was beaming. "Well, technically, that was a foul but I liked the spirit."

"Don't ever call me a girl."

"Fair enough. My ball. Now you're on Defense. Show me whatchya got."

Adrian felt like a fool trying to block him and Mark was quite light on his feet. A fake out got him clear past Adrian for an untroubled layout.

Great. There was no way he would ever win the ball back.

"Can we please just take our shots from the line?"

"Nope." Mark had that edge in his voice that meant he was almost mad. "I'm not letting you fold. You're good enough to play. So play."

Adrian bit his lip. It had been decades since he had been encouraged to participate in sport, and even longer since he felt safe enough from ridicule to join in. Mark had this knack for bring the best parts of a bygone era to the new age. The world was black and white again: men played ball, and weakness was taunted--but liking boys was not the weakness. Self doubt was, and that just happened to be something Adrian knew how to get over in a heartbeat.

They played a full game and did not go easy on each other. Adrian got the hang of defense when he realized that Mark couldn't fake left because of an ankle thing. Then, whenever Mark was on defense, Adrian only had to fake right and go left to get around him. It didn't always work, sometimes Mark was just faster and had a longer reach than he did, so he won the ball back as often as Adrian got it past him. 

It was _fun_.

Adrian had the ball. One more point and the tied game would be over. He dribbled with his back to the hoop.  
Mark crowded him, a wall of sweaty muscles. 

Adrian had an idea of how to win. It was definitely cheating. But he had tapped into his competitive streak, which was a dark place with no rules. He wanted to win and to do it, he had to get past Mark--and he saw a way to make it happen, so he did it.

"C'mon, take the shot. What are ya waiting for?" Mark taunted.

Adrian turned, planted a kiss on his lips, then spun around him and took his shot. 

Mark sputtered, late blocking it. The ball spun through the air, hit the rim and bounced off. 

"Son of a--" Adrian cursed.

Mark laughed as he caught it and tipped it right back into the net, winning the game. He caught the ball straight out of the net and tucked it under one arm.

He was grinning, and shaking his head.

Adrian came to a stand still, put his hands on his hips, and tried to catch his breath. "I took my best shot at winning," he said by way of explanation and apology.

Mark was grinning. His eyes swept over Adrian from his sweatbands to his spotless sneakers. "Good game."

He wasn't in trouble for that? Cool. "Same time tomorrow?"

"Absolutely."

**Author's Note:**

> Couldn't help myself. Had to give Naird tats :-p


End file.
